Megan Navarro
WIMBERLEY — Through imagining what a successful future could look like for their sons, Mickey Perkins and Roger Smith knew they wanted to carry that opportunity into the Wimberley community by way of a hot dog food truck.
It all started in 2021 with a dream that Perkins had one night, where she saw herself buying a special education school bus and converting it into a food truck that they would sell hot dogs from, with the help of their two sons, Rufus, who has autism, and Jasper, who also has autism and was diagnosed with an intellectual disability. She told her husband about the dream the next day and, just a few weeks later, they found a bus on super sale in Bastrop.
This ultimately started the multi-year process of converting the bus into a working food truck, known as Schoolyard Dogs, which had its first day of business July 4, 2024. As time passed, Perkins and Smith decided to run it as a nonprofit, as well as hire and train other intellectually and developmentally disabled adults in the Wimberley area.
In addition to the food truck, they began using the kitchen at the former Scudder Primary School campus in May 2025 with the help of Wimberley ISD. After spending more than $20,000 to update and outfit the kitchen, Schoolyard Dogs uses the space to prepare all of the food for both the hot dog truck, but also baked items for sale.
“We learned that the bus wasn't really a money maker because we're always over-staffed. I could go on that bus and run it by myself, but it's not really the point of the whole thing. So, we have a cook, we have a manager and then, we always have at least one person outside for customer service. We were hoping that maybe going into baked goods might be more of an income generator,” Perkins explained.
When school started in August, they started selling baked goods to teachers and staff at two campuses and the adult special education class would deliver it to the break room once a week, Perkins said. They now deliver to all of the campuses, where teachers and staff can order online, and it’s also been expanded to offer the same menu for pickup for the general public.
“We have things like sourdough breads and sourdough pretzels. Now, we have sourdough English muffins. We do cookies and we did cakes and pies for the holidays. So, now we call that Schoolyard Kitchen and, in the new year, we are going to start offering take-and-bake meals that people can pick up and take home and just stick in the oven. We do have take-and-bake cinnamon rolls that are really popular,” she said. “So, we're hoping that the meals will catch on, too. Everything we sell on the bus, everything we sell from the kitchen, we do everything from scratch.”
Being able to offer this opportunity for other adults that are like her sons is important because it is hard for them to find jobs and a place where they fit in, Perkins explained. She also emphasized that it can be a challenge for the parents and caretakers because they are having to find things for their adult children to do that are meaningful.
“My older son is 23, so he graduated out of the 18 to 22 program last year and this coming year, my other son is going to age out of it, so I'm going to have both my sons with me. I know of many other families in the area that have the same challenge,” she said. “They have an adult special needs child with them. Sometimes, they have to give up jobs or they have to get caretakers or a sibling has to give up their plans in order to take care of the sibling.”
Right now, Schoolyard Dogs has 10 employees, but the ultimate goal is to offer a community center where people can go during a day with programs and social interaction opportunities that are available, which would also give parents peace of mind knowing that their child is with other people and learning new skills, Perkins added.
The food truck can be found in the parking lot behind Art on 12, located at 13811 Ranch Road 12, Wimberley, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays. To learn more on how to support Schoolyard Dogs, visit www.schoolyarddogs.org.
